Telephone apparatus



2 Sheets-.-Sheet 1.

E. T. GILLILAND. TELEPHONE APPARATUS.

(No Model.)

Patented Feb. 5, 1884.

WITNESSES.

INVENTOR.

'(No Model.) l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

; E. T. GIL LILAN D. TELEPHONE "APPARATUS;

No. 293.161. w Patented Feb, '5, 1884.

WI TWESSE-S'. i 7E T 0R1 I PER I I f 7W W I A! nan UNI E T E ArnNr@rrrcn.

. EZRA T. GILLILAND, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE WESTERNELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,161, dated February5,; 1884. I Application filed May 2, 1882. (No model.) V

To all 2071 0172, it may concern..-

Be it known thatI, EZRA T. GILLILAND, of the city of Indianapolis,county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Telephone Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

The principal object of my said invention is to mount atelephone in sucha manner that it "may be caused to make or shunt the eleetrical circuitby simply pressing against it, and to break or shunt said circuitautomatically when the pressure is relieved. A further object is toprovide a substitute for the ordinary flexible cord commonly used withtelephones. The first object is accomplished by mounting the telephoneou-a pivoted arm,

spring to said arm or said projection in such' manner as to at all timesmaintain a contact with one of said points when not forced toward theother. The second objectis accomplished by running insulated wires alongsaid arm, and terminating the same in a sliding or.

ient and desirable construction than one wh erein'the arm shouldbe allin one piece, as will be understood by the following description.

' I desire, however, to distinctly disclaim any arrangement wherein thegravity of thetelephone or similar force causes the disconnec' tion.

The method of making electrical connection through insulated wireattached to the arm, instead of by a flexible cord,will be read-- ilyunderstood from the drawings and the description hereinafter-given. e

Referring to "the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof,and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure1 is a perspective view of a box containing the call-signal apparatusfor a telephone, and provided with my invention; Fig.

2, a horizontal sectional view, looking downwardly from the dotted line5 a; Fig. 3, a vertical sectional view, looking toward the rear of thebox from the dotted line g] y,- Fig. 4, a sec tional view, lookingtoward the left from the dotted lines as :0,- Fig. 5, aside elevation ofso oted to said bearingplate D, a spring attached thereto; E, atelephone-arm attached to said device- F a s )rin -washer inter osedbetween said device and said arm; G, the telephone; I-I,

a connection between one of the binding-posts of the telephone and aninsulated screw or pin passing through the arm E; I, a connectionbetween the other binding-post of the telephone and a similar screw orpin, also passing through said arm; J K, said screws or pins M 0",springs against which said screws rest; L, the main or line wire of thetelephone; M,

the switch-wire running to thetelephone; N,

the switch-wire running to the call-signal apparatus; O, the telephoneground-wire; I,

the call-signal apparatus ground-wire; Q It,

the transmitter-batterywires, and S the trans mitter-battery. The box Ais the ordinary box containing a magneto-generatorand othercall-signalapparatus, of any usual or approved form, which is or may be used inconnection with a telephone, themagneto being "the form of apparatuswith which I prefer to use my invention, although it is applicable toothers.

The bearing-plate B is secured rigidly to the box A, and has two arms,I) b, to contain the pivots b b, on which the device 0 is pivoted. Thesepivots are preferably in the form of pointed screws, as shown, so thatthe bearings may be readily and accurately adjusted. pivots should besecured, when adjusted, by set-screws or set-nuts, the former beingshown.

Said

The device consists of a plate forming the head of the T, which shouldcorrespond nearly in size with the face of the rear portion of thetelephone-arm, and an arm projecting through the arrow-head-shaped partaway from the device O in some suitable manner,

simple and convenient means of making this contact-springs M Q R, andpreferably against the contact-springN, except when forced in the otherdirection. It is also a desirable means of connecting the main line Lwith the device 0. The telephone-arm E is secured to the device 0 by thescrew 0, or in some other similar manner. It should be screwed tightlyenough against said device to cause it to re main in the position inwhich it is placed until the position is forcibly changed. It carriesthe telephone, in the manner illustrated, securely and in convenientposition. The spring-washer F is used for the purpose of aiding inholding the telephone-arm in place. The telephone G is the ordinaryhand-telephone in common use. Any other receiving telephone is, however,equally capable of use with my invention. It is usually secured to thearm E by the clamp-plate E and screws c c. The connection H ispreferably a piece of wire so covered as to be insulated from anythingwith which it may come in contact between its two points of connection,which connects the binding-post g'of the telephone with a screw, J ,orother similar or equivalent device. The connection I is a piece of wiresimilar to the wire H, and connects the bind- .ing-post g of thetelephone to the screw K.

The screw J passes through the rear end of the arm E and againstthespring M It is electrically separated from the arm by the piece ofinsulating material J. The wire H is preferably clamped between a nut,j, on this screw and a washer thereon. M is secured to the outside ofthe box A, and extends down under the spring J, as shown. It will yieldsufficiently to permit the arm to be pressed inwardly and allow it tomove outwardly during the ordinary use of this device, and is .wideenough so that the point of the screw J will remain incontact'therewith, notwithstanding any ordinary movement of the arm onits pivot. This spring is usually connected to the telephone-wire M. Thescrew K and spring 0 are similarly con structed, and performsubstantially the same functions as the screw J and spring M". Thespring 0 is preferably connected to the groundwire 0. The main wire L isconnected to the A very connection is through the spring D.

The spring when the apparatus is in its normal position, with thearrowhead-shaped part resting against the contact-spring N, the currentpasses through the call-signal apparatus and to the ground, leaving thetelephone entirely out out. XVhen, however, the switch is turned, withthe arrow -head shaped part resting against the contact-spring M, thecurrent passes through the telephone, and the latter is in condition foruse. The wire M is the wire by which the telephone is connectedto theline. In the arrangement shown (most plainly in Fig. 2) the connectionH, spring M wire M, (see Fig; 4,) and contact-spring M are each,electrically considered, a part of this wire or line, said contactspringbeing the termination when the apparatus is in normal position. cut-outwire, by which the telephone is cut out from the main circuit and thecall-signal apparatus thrown in. It terminates in the contact-spring N,to which it is connected by a binding-screw or otherwise. It isusuallyso arranged in telephone apparatus as to turn the circuit fromthe telephone to the call-signal apparatus when brought in contact withthe switch. The wires 0 and P run from the telephone and call-signalapparatus, respect ively, to the ground. The wires Q and R and thecontact-springs Q It, in which they terminate, constitute means wherebythis invention operates to connect the transmitter-battery circuit. atthe same time the telephone is put in use, and correspond closely tosimilar wires or strips used in apparatus wherein the gravityswitch isemployed.

Instead of the arrangement heretofore described, that illustrated byFig. 7 may be used, whereby instead of cutting out the instruments theyare simply shunted or short-circuited. Another modification of thisdevice would be substantially reversing the course of the current, asshown in said Fig. 7'i. e., usingwhat is therein shown. as theground-wire for the line-wire, and what is shown as the line-wire forthe ground-wire. In this latter arrangement a modification in themechanical part of the invention could also be accomplished. In stead ofrunning the connection Htothe screw J, it could in this last-describedcase be connected to the body of the arm E, thus making said arm and thedeviceOserve as the greater portion of one side of thetelephone-circuit.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The apparatus being in theposition shown, the spring D holds the device 0 away from thecontact-spring M, thus keeping the tele phone G cut out orsh'ort-circuited, which is or should be the normal condition of thetelephone in properlyconstructed apparatus, except when in use. It alsoin this condition keeps the transmittenbattery circuit open. WVhen it isdesired to use the telephone, the user simply presses his ear againstthe mouth thereof, and the pressure, being communicated to the device 0through the arm E, overcomes Referring now to Fig. 6, it will be seenthat the force of thespring D and causes the arrow- The wire N is ashort-circuiting or (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- E. T. GILLILAND.

TELEPHONE-APPARATUS. V v N0.Z93,162. Patented Feb. 5,1884.

